1.

Economic Motives for Exploration

During the 15th and 16th centuries, leaders of several European nations sponsored expeditions
abroad in the hope that explorers would find great wealth and vast undiscovered lands. The
Portuguese were the earliest participants in this Age of Discovery. Starting in about 1420,
small Portuguese ships known as caravels zipped along the African coast, carrying spices, gold,
slaves and other goods from Asia and Africa to Europe.

One of the economic motives for exploration was the hope of finding precious metals in
the Americas. The supply of precious metals, like gold and silver, in the old world was limited.
Rulers wanted to find large supplies of these precious metals in new lands. Mercantilism was
also one of the reasons for exploration. Mercantilism caused competition between the economies
of different nations. People wanted to have large amounts of gold and silver stocked up, and
believed trade generates more wealth. Governments and explorers also wanted to find a passage
through the New World and to Asia. Their goal was a faster voyage to the Indies. Since people
were also coming into contact with native people in the Americas and other new lands, another
economic motive for exploration was trade. This secondary source of the Age of Discovery
explains the hope of finding precious metals, a key motive of exploration, and the action of
participating in trade with different people over newly discovered continents.

History.com Staff. "Christopher Columbus." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web.
http://www.history.com/topics/exploration/christopher-columbus 09 Mar. 2017.

2. Religious Motives for Exploration

 One of the main religious motives for exploration was to spread and convert many people
to Christianity. During this time, there was a tension between Christians and Muslims because of
past conflicts, such as the crusades, where Muslims and Christians battled for control over the
Holy Land. Both religions, Islam and Christianity, wanted to spread their religion and convert
many people. This was a key part in spreading Christianity and it motivated people to explore
new lands in search of people to convert to their religion. After the Protestant Reformation, there
were new denominations of Christianity, such as Protestant. After a new denomination formed
away from the Catholic Church, both denominations wanted to spread their teachings. This also
helped the Christian religion spread, and motivated people to explore because so many people
wanted to spread the teachings of their denomination. The picture above illustrates Christopher
Columbus arriving in the new world, and taking over the natives which he converted to
Christianity, a main reason for exploration.

Calderone, Julia. "Christopher Columbus Brought a Host of Terrible New Diseases to the New
World." Business Insider. Business Insider, 12 Oct. 2015. Web.
http://www.businessinsider.com/diseases-columbus-brought-to-americas-2015-10 10 Mar. 2017.

3. Political Motives for Exploration

 A political motive for exploration was to be in control of trade routes. Many European
countries believed that trade would generate more wealth. Competition between countries
emerged, giving explorers and monarchs more of an incentive to explore the new world.
European countries also wanted to control land in the new world,expand their country, and form
colonies. This caused more rivalries and competition between countries, which also gave
explorers a cause to search for new lands. An example of this competition is when Spain and
England were competing for control of the new world. The map shows trade routes, and the
colonies of European countries. With this map, we can see the reasons why countries would be
in competition with each other, which was a main political motive for exploration.

"Age of Exploration." Awesome Stupendous History. N.p., n.d.

Web.http://thorhistory.weebly.com/age-of-exploration.html 10 Mar. 2017.\

4. Columbus Conquest of Hispaniola

 "Hispaniola." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2017. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

When Christopher Columbus was voyaging to the Indies in 1492, he came across an
island filled with native people who called themselves the Taino. Columbus found that the soil
on the island of Hispaniola was fertile, and he also discovered that they could get gold from the
natives, or from the deposits of gold located on the island. Columbus returned to the island the
next year and set up the first European settlement in the New World. Towns emerged in
Hispaniola close to the deposits of gold. The Spanish forced the natives into working long, hard
hours panning and mining for gold, that the Spanish took for themselves. The Taino had not been
exposed to European diseases and many of the natives got very sick. The Spanish also tortured
the Taino the native population to decrease dramatically. Today, the island of Hispaniola is
occupied by haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The picture above illustrates Columbus landing
on the island of Hispaniola, which would later become the first European settlement in the New
World. This was the first step for the Spanish in taking over the Caribbean, Central America, and
South America.

Cova, Antonio De La. "The First Colony." The First Colony. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

5. Spanish Encomienda System

 The Spanish Encomienda System was created to control the status and labor of Native
Americans, that lived in colonies under Spanish control. The Spanish Crown would grant
encomenderos, which were people with a high status in the society, native people which they
could demand tribute and forced labor. The Spanish enslaved the Native Americans and forced
them to work in farming and mining. The encomenderos were expected to convert the native
people to Catholic Christianity and protect them. If a Native American refused, they would be
tortured and killed. The Spanish Encomienda System was first used in Spain during the time of
the Roman Empire, and was then used in the Reconquista of the Holy Land from Muslim
control. The chart above shows the social hierarchy in the Spanish colonies, and the status of
different groups of people under Spanish rule.

Preteroti, Abby. "APUSH Timeline." Timetoast. Timetoast Timelines, n.d. Web.

https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/apush-117bc85d-a748-413a-a2b1-cb4671e1bbb2 13 Mar. 2017.